Hellyeah

Despite this, the band is a tight-knit group with a love of performing. Bassist and relatively new addition to the lineup Kyle Sanders looks forward to the dates Down Under.

“We just got back from the European tour and we’re taking advantage of a little bit of downtime, getting my house back in order,” he says. “It was actually great. It was a good mix of headlining shows and opening up on a couple, and had several festivals. It wasn’t monotonous – there was nothing routine about it. It ended with the Download Festival in the UK, which was the biggest show we’ve done over there.”

Hellyeah have been on tour for well over a year now, and understandably there’s been little time to regroup in between. Despite the seasoned nature of the musicians and the hectic touring schedule, Sanders insists the songs still feel fresh.

“Sick of the songs? No, thankfully not. When we play headline shows we get an hour and a half, so we get a lot of time to get a good mix of everything, but at festivals we only get 45 minutes, so we’ve been mixing up enough that it doesn’t get monotonous. We haven’t gotten sick of them – yet. Plus we’re coming to Australia for this new record cycle, so it’s kind of ignited this new fire, which keeps it fresh for us.”

Shortly after the release last year of Blood For Blood, the band underwent a pretty significant lineup change, with the exit of guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob Kakaha – the latter creating the vacancy for Sanders.

“They wanted me in the band because of my style and technique and the flavour that I bring,” Sanders says. “They didn’t say to play it note for note and don’t do anything different. They said, ‘Learn the songs and bring your own style to it.’ It was just like an open door, so I made it my own and comfortable for myself. I mean, I knew all these guys – they were like family anyway – so it was just comfortable. There was nothing weird or awkward about it.”

The addition of Sanders to the lineup heralded an inevitable change in the band’s sound. Though he is yet to feature on any recordings, Sanders insists fans will pick the difference in live shows.

“There’s a different intensity – especially live. I mean, just the way the songs are written and the way I play them different. In a live setting [it feels] kind of like more energy in it now. Everyone’s been milling around with their own ideas, so after the Australian tour we’re really looking forward to getting in a room together and working on the next record. So, you know, the next record should just be an evolution of the band, really.”

With big names like Gray and Paul in the group, there are the obvious questions of ego and competitiveness. For Sanders, though, one of the biggest surprises was the sense of humble camaraderie in the band. He explains that Hellyeah also spend much of their downtime together, building strong familial bonds.

“There’s a lot of kids running around – I’ll tell you that much – but everyone’s strong in their own ways and serves their own purpose. There’s obviously some names that are bigger than others, but everyone has an equal part; everyone kind of stands on their own.

“[Paul is] such an amazing drummer – the chemistry we have together and the way we lock in. I mean, I’m completely focused on playing with the drummer, because without that foundation we really have nothing. We’ve really locked in, so some of the grooves and parts we’ve played, we’ve really made it tighter. It’s kind of a ‘meant to be’ situation.”

The band’s ethos around live performance, in particular, is something very personal to Sanders, and he’s eager to pass it on to younger musicians. Despite the critics, the tumultuous band dynamics and the gruelling touring schedule, the most important thing is fostering a love of the music.

“I think the most beautiful thing about this band is no-one’s jaded about [it]. No-one’s sick of it, no-one expects rock star treatment. You know, we’re still playing massive festivals and tiny club shows in different areas, so the fact that everyone still realises that individually we’re no better than anybody else … It’s just the passion of music. You just don’t see it that much nowadays. Older bands get kinda jaded and if they don’t get exactly what they want there’s a lot of attitude and rock star ego going on.

“Anytime a younger band asks for advice, I would just say as long as you’re doing it for yourself and making yourself happy, it can be a lifetime career. But as soon as you start writing for somebody else or jump on a bandwagon, that’s where you lose track. You’re not going to make a career out of it. Be in it for yourself.”